Gorse (Ulex europæus) as a possible source of xylans by hydrothermal treatment

▶ Gorse (Ulex europæus) has been used to test its potential use as a source of xylan. An hydrothermal process was applied to extract xylan. Different reaction temperatures and times were tested to determine the best process conditions. Extraction of xylan showed a strong dependence on temperature and time. Increasing temperature yielded an increased amount of recovered xylan, reaching a maximum value of 62% (wt% on initial xylan) at 180 °C for 30 min, which is in agreement with other studies using non-wood material. The analysis of the kinetic behaviour as a function of the logarithm of the severity factor, RO, allowed the identification of a set of time/temperature combinations that were the most favourable to produce the maximum amount of xylan in solution, corresponding to the value of log RO = 3.6.